# Brain shakers from watching the Gilligan's Island marathon **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 10, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847 "2023-07-10T07:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/281 "2023-07-15T21:07:09Z")
It’s been a long time\* since I’ve watched the show. but I’m vaguely remembering them having boxes of food and stuff wash up on shore. \*I did watch the episode where the Howells didn’t think they were married, to check the claim that Mrs. Howell’s birth name was covered. Answer: last (aka maiden) name yes, by Lovey hereself. First name was not mentioned. The next most common claim is that Eunice came from the movies. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/282 "2023-07-15T21:07:29Z")
That was over 10 years later and she’d had a lot of small roles in between. I’m not saying she’d never be a good actress, but she didn’t have much experience before Gilligan’s Island, and while cast in a lot of small roles afterward nothing ever caught on. And it’s possible her notoriety from that sitcom interfered with her career. It’s not like that rest of the cast had any larger careers. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/283 "2023-07-15T21:11:39Z")
Yeah them radioactive canned veggies were a hoot! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/284 "2023-07-15T21:12:08Z")
Not to mention the canned corned beef that arrived, along with the lion. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/285 "2023-07-15T21:12:46Z")
Oh lord. I had forgot that one. Fun stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/286 "2023-07-15T21:30:51Z")
Okay, I was googling, trying to find an exact count of how many episodes do _not_ involve trying to get off the island. Haven’t found out yet, but check [this](https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/the-real-reason-the-castaways-never-escaped-gilligans/239732) out. > And yet somehow no one did anything to Gilligan. They never made hard choices. They didn’t lock him up. They didn’t finish him off. They did nothing dramatic enough to keep him from foiling their attempts to escape the island. They cared more about Gilligan than getting off the island. > > The bottom line is that the castaways said they wanted to leave the island but their motivations and incentives weren’t aligned. > > The same thing happens in business with employee compensation and incentive plans. Often managers think they are creating incentives for specific behaviors, but they are motivating employees to do something completely different. Makes sense, actually, in both cases! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/287 "2023-07-15T21:42:04Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Yeah them radioactive canned veggies were a hoot! I think they were radioactive seeds, actually; for spinach, sugar beets, carrots, and a few others. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/288 "2023-07-15T21:52:04Z")
The carrots gave Mary Ann super vision and the spinach gave Gilligan super strength. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/289 "2023-07-15T21:58:29Z")
And the sugar beets gave Mrs. Howell the energy of a hummingbird after drinking its weight in coffee. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/290 "2023-07-15T22:41:37Z")
You have to admit it’s still funny! [https://youtu.be/FCoMyk1UuTQ?t=98](https://youtu.be/FCoMyk1UuTQ?t=98) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/291 "2023-07-15T23:03:50Z")
Barbara Eden played a manicurist in Floyd’s barbershop on _The Andy Griffith Show_. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/292 "2023-07-16T01:20:17Z")
> [@epbrown](#): > > I honestly don’t recall Dawn Wells doing anything non-Gilligan. Also (barely) in a movie about a loose killer in Texarkana “The Town That Dreaded Sunset” or something like that. I’m really shocked BeckyWrecky didn’t get that one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/293 "2023-07-16T01:56:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And it’s possible her notoriety from that sitcom interfered with her career. It’s not like that rest of the cast had any larger careers. As opposed to most of the millions of actors who DIDN’T star in a sitcom, and who subsequently also didn’t have much of a career. Again, all seven of them had much better careers than the vast majority of actors, and that’d be true even if Gilligan’s Island had been the only role they ever had. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/294 "2023-07-16T02:16:11Z")
Of course. Some actors take off from a small role like Tom Hanks did while most are lucky to continue acting. But many also complained of being stereotyped in roles. George Reeves inability to get roles because he was so well known as Superman, at least in his own perception, that it may have contributed to his suicide. Max Baer felt his role on the Beverly Hillbillies kept him from further roles. And sometimes it would have been true. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/295 "2023-07-16T02:18:17Z")
Ummm. Look up fishman. I mentioned it. ‘Return to Boggy Creek’ was the name of it. Post 266 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/296 "2023-07-16T03:35:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Ummm… Indeed. Have your Device calibrated. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/297 "2023-07-16T03:47:34Z")
Tina Louise recorded an album in 1957, _It’s Time for Tina_. She’s not bad–she doesn’t have a great vocal range, but as a sultry chanteuse she’s fine. Hey, it has Coleman Hawkins on it, how bad can it be? He plays really well on “Embraceable You.” https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLrXSWFwzSmZvH1y6thNfo4E6cnAx_pTgm&wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=1&enablejsapi=1 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/298 "2023-07-16T23:56:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Did Tina have the best post-_Gilligan_ career? We’ve already mentioned a few roles she had. The rest didn’t do much apart from revivals of their _GI_ characters. It’s a bit tricky to say, since there’s a difference between the expectations you might have of a post-Gilligan career for an actor who was well-established before GI (Backus, Shafer, Denver, Hale) and actors who were less established. Denver was a famous person before GI (he was the Kramer of Dobie Gillis) and went on to do other series (less successfully, but he kept getting hired), Hale, Shafer and Backus were well-established but pretty old by the time GI was over, so independent of GI they couldn’t expect a sudden change in fortune. The rest are probably a push - they got some visibility, so casting directors knew their names (a big improvement) but there was some typecasting too (the downside) - but if they hadn’t done GI, would they have had a career that was any different? Probably not. Compare with Adam West, who probably did suffer a lot from typecasting, since prior to Batman he had been a plausible leading man type - but not so much afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/299 "2023-07-17T00:22:27Z")
When you say Denver was “the Kramer” of _ **Dobie Gillis** _, are you comparing him to the character on _ **Seinfeld** _, or did you mean to say “the Krebs”? Because his name on that show was Maynard G Krebs. **Trivia Challenge:** What did the “G” stand for? (Or, in other words, what was his middle name?) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/300 "2023-07-17T00:25:08Z")
He was a drop-in character like Seinfeld’s Kramer or Laverne & Shirley’s Squiggy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847.md?page=16)